I haven't been all that impressed with Optimas.

IMHO, not worth the money.

 

Arent there a few other makers that give optimas a ruin for thier money-exide??

 

may i ask y?

 

pro-comp makes a spiral cell battery too. and its cheaper than the optima

 

I've 8 Optima batteries, none have been replaced. The oldest is about 14 years old. The last two were bought at Costco as you can not beat their price. The one Costco sells fits and works fine in your Toyota.

Both the Toyotas shown below are using Optimas. My Tractor, my charging system for our hydro, and my Rx7... all Optima Redtops.

 

I ran several Optimas back in my car audio competition days (admittedly, that was a while ago). One wouldn't hold a charge, another shorted internally and smoked my voltage regulator. The others didn't seem to have much better reserve than "regular" batteries.

Note that the Optimas are not "gel cell" batteries - they just use a coiled lead mesh to encapsulate the acid instead of lead plates.

I think my battery is going to need to be replaced soon. I'll either go with a Diehard or a true gel cell.

 

i bought the optima red top at costco last year, and it didn't fit my 98 taco 3.4, the pos cable was 1" too short

 

Optima batteries are a little overhyped. They ARE good batteries, but they do fail just like any other thing out there, and it's not unheard of either. I was about to buy one, before I spoke to several people that said that theirs crapped out at inopportune moments. That said, they were replaced and continued to work as before, although sometimes failing once again. Others rave about them. I decided to pass.

I think Enersys Odyssey (formerly Hawker) give just about anything one heck of an ass whopping. They're quite costly, but are military grade batteries that are meant to LAST and have a predicted 8-12 year design life, three free replacement. 2 years storage life before needing charge @ 25?C (77?F). The colder, the longer.

I bought a 1700T ($232) and I think it's worth every penny. I depend on it completely.

* 1700 cranking amps for 5 seconds
* 1540 cranking amps for 10 seconds
* 1355 cranking amps for 20 seconds
* Short circuit current over 3500A
* 68 amp hours
* 142 minute reserve capacity with 25amp load
* With SAE automotive terminals
* Length 13.0"
* Width 6.5"
* Height 7.5" including terminals
* Weighs 59 lbs


They have many more models, with different terminals offered, with or without a metal jacket, etc.

West Coast Batteries and The Battery Barn (East Coast) are good places to get one. Battery Barn had (has?) free shipping and I've dealt with them twice, very nice folks.

Anyway, just throwing something out there

 

I like 3 year no question replacement on the red and the 7 years prorated. I have both I forget what the yellow warranty goes for but since my yellow is mounted sideways I wouldn't try it with a regular battery.

Aaron

 

No they are probably not "Super Batteries" that will never fail. I got mine because the high speed stuff that we sometimes get into here in Socal would sometimes pop my caps off the stock battery and that caused acid to leak on my bat tray. It was 6 years old so I replaced it with the 34R that has no caps to rattle off.

I run low power off road lights (Hella 500's) a CB and the usual other acces. so deep cycle was not a major concern for me. No dimming lights signs or anything.

It has been a good batt so far and not that much more than a regular battery.

 

My first toyota was a 1990 22r 2wd truck, which I bought with the factory battery (from the original owner -- a panasonic battery I think). I bought it in 2003 -- and that was the first thing I switched out.

My second was a 1994 3.0 4x4 truck. I pulled the exact same looking battery out of this truck in 2005 for no reason other than it was old.

My current 4runner is a 1996, and I just replaced the battery a few months ago since it was hard to start on cold mornings.

My parents have a 2000 4runner with the factory battery also.

 

Thats really odd, my camry went at about 6 years to the day, the pick up my friend had went about 7 years I think. My T100 is now 11 years old ans is on its second battery installed by the PO, cousins camry got about 6 years, same for my grandmas.

I dunno what to say, but that my expierance. Perhaps it has to do with the climate by you-colder the temps longer batteries last my friend.

 

Odd but believable. When I bought my '96, to my great amazement it still had the original battery in it. It didn't hold a charge very well, but...still! I bought it this November.

 

NAPA also makes the Orbital which is comparable to the Red Top.

Champion makes one as well.

 

so here's a dumb question. Which yellow top is the right one for a 92 4runner V6 3.0? I emailed optima and they say the D75/25, I go to auto zone and they say the D34/78.

looking at a comparison chart at http://www.1st-optima-batteries.com/, it would seem that the D34/78 is essentially the same physical size as the D75/25 except that it is .75" longer. The electrical specs on the D34/78 appear better: 60 more CCA @ 32 degrees F, 7 more AH. It weighs 4 pounds more than the D75/25. It has the same terminals as the D75/25.

to me, going off just the specs, the D34/78 looks to be the better battery. Am I missing something here? will the D34/78 fit? Here's some pics of the two batteries:

D34/78:


D75/25:

 

ttt....anyone? D34/78 or D75/25?

 

I'm looking for an answer to this question too

 

Excide makes them for Pro Comp. Check out their site they have all the info you need.

 

I used to have a Black Panther battery, actually two of them, in my 91 4Runner and they worked great. The selling point on those was teh size and you could mount them sideways or however you wanted to. i was abe to mount two of them in the space of my stock battery.

I tried a search for them but it looks like they are out of business, bummer becasue the size and metal cover around them made them great for 4wheeling and dual set ups in the stock location.